Emily Cobbald (Front right) is guest of honour at Cambridge's Race for Life (Image: Mark Hewlett)

Emily was just 12-years-old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. She needed to start chemotherapy treatment straight away and spent 12 days in hospital.

Even though she is now in remission, Emily still has a five day course of steroids, as well as chemotherapy every month. She also takes a series of tablets at home and has regular lumber punctures to monitor her condition. She is expected to continue with chemotherapy until March 2018.

“I knew nothing about cancer before I was diagnosed," explained Emily. "I just knew it was bad. I didn’t know what leukaemia was, I didn’t even know it was a thing.

"They’ve told me I’m not lucky to have cancer but I’m lucky to have this kind of cancer because of the research that’s gone into it and because it’s treatable."

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Emily said she was looking forward to joining the Race for Life with her puppy Tillie, her family and friends and all the other fundraisers.

"It’s because of them that we can pay for the research we need. I don’t think I will be able to run it but I will walk the course with my puppy Tillie. If I can do it, you can!”

Her mum, Katherine Cobbald, decided to start the Race for Life team after watching her daughter struggle with treatment. She recruited others to join her and now has 52 runners on board who are all running for Emily.

Katherine said: “I am not good at running, I’ve found the training really tough but all I have to do is think of what Emily has been through. If she can do her treatment, then I can do 5k, it’s nothing in comparison to what she has had to deal with.

“I might not like running but the training with the rest of Team Emily has been great fun! I’d encourage anyone to get a group of friends together and give Race for Life a go. Emily is going to do the 5k, if she can you do it, you can too!”

Gill Burgess, Cancer Research UK area event manager, said: “We are delighted to have Emily and her mum joining us on stage at this year’s Race for Life. Their determination to help others by raising money and awareness really sums up the Race for Life spirit.

“I hope they will inspire other women to sign up and help raise funds for crucial research that makes a real difference in the fight against cancer."

There are two events taking place at Parker’s Piece on July 16 – the 5k and 10k Race for Life events.